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NFL: Packers' D gashed in 45-31 playoff loss to 49ers

San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick is tackled by Green Bay Packers safety M.D. Jennings (left) and linebacker Erik Walden during the Packers' 45-31 loss in an NFC divisional playoff game Saturday in San Francisco.

SAN FRANCISCO — When Colin Kaepernick went back to throw, he found open receivers. When the Green Bay Packers had it covered, he scrambled for back-breaking gains. When Kaepernick and the San Francisco 49ers mixed in the read option, the Packers had no chance.

A week after holding 2,000-yard rusher Adrian Peterson in check, the Packers were run over and sent home from the playoffs with a 45-31 loss Saturday night.

“We just didn’t have an answer,” linebacker A.J. Hawk said. “We couldn’t find a way to get off the field on third down. We couldn’t find a way to get off the field ever, really.”

The Packers (12-6) took a 7-0 lead when Sam Shields returned an interception 52 yards for a touchdown on the opening drive.

That was about the only bright spot during a historically bad night for the Green Bay defense that gave up the most total yards (579), yards rushing (323) and second-most points in the playoffs in franchise history.

Only one other team ran for at least 320 yards and four touchdowns in a postseason game: Chicago accomplished the feat in a 73-0 win over Washington in 1940.

Those Bears didn’t have a quarterback who could paralyze a defense with the read-option and scrambles the way Kaepernick did in gaining 181 yards, a record for a quarterback in the regular season or playoffs.

“You can’t let him out of there,” defensive back Charles Woodson said. “It’s that simple, it seems. You get good rushes on a guy like that and he finds that one hole, that one gap. When he takes off, he’s out of there. It seems like it’s 10 yards a pop every time he sneaks out of there. When that happens it’s hard to defend.”

Kaepernick scrambled for a 20-yard score in the first quarter. Then he set the rushing record for a quarterback in the playoffs when he faked an inside handoff to Frank Gore and raced untouched for a 56-yard score that gave San Francisco a 31-24 lead late in the third quarter.

“We didn’t handle the read option very good and we didn’t handle the quarterback getting out of the pocket,” coach Mike McCarthy said. “You may not have noticed, but we did have a spy on him at times.”

It just didn’t matter.

Then the power running took over from there with Gore and Anthony Dixon each running for short scores that turned the tight game into a blowout.

They even struggled when the Niners went to the air, allowing Kaepernick to throw for 263 yards and two first-half touchdowns to Michael Crabtree.

Last year’s NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns, but also was intercepted once and couldn’t keep up with Kaepernick.

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